Utopia
by DoYouFindMeDreadful
Summary: Hayato and Takeshi enjoy the peace their younger selves no doubt take for granted. -light Hayato X Takeshi -


"It sure is peaceful, huh?"

A quick glance at the man beside him was all Hayato allowed himself and then he was back to intently glaring at the tree he'd chosen to direct his frustration at. The tree itself had nothing to do with anything really, but he'd needed to vent somehow and the shrubbery of the park had seemed like a convenient enough of a target. Though if he were being honest, it wasn't helping much. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." A small chuckle and then Takeshi turned bemused chestnut eyes towards his longtime friend and companion. Though, if he ever said that last part aloud, Hayato would no doubt flush a deep red and deny it completely. He was still a bit immature like that, too proud to admit something so personal – especially considering how far the term 'companion' stretched for them now. He supposed it was only _natural_ for the bomber to be a bit embarrassed. "Don't you like it?"

A harsh snort followed by jerky movements as Hayato fished the pack of cigarettes he'd bought only minutes before out of his pocket. As he tore at the wrapper and the flimsy carton, he all but snarled in reply. "Of course I like it! Compared to ten years down the road, this is like Heaven! The Tenth is all well and good, all of our family is safe, there aren't battles breaking out every fucking where," Slipping the end of the soft stick between his lips, he quickly lit it and took a long, deep drag, reveling in the smoke curling down inside of him like a dragon – twisting it's way to all his organs and into every drop of blood to simultaneously work miracles and wreak havoc upon him. "but what if the others aren't alright? What if the Tenth is in trouble right now and neither of us are their to help him? What if something happens to _him_ too?"

Silence settled between them, Hayato puffing away in irritation and Takeshi merely observing. After a moment, the swordsman spoke up.

"I can't believe your still such a worry wart."

"What!?" Hayato snapped, turning a fierce look to the dark haired man.

For the first time in a long time, he got to see Takeshi's exuberant smile – untainted by tragedy and pain, the same gleam of sunshine that the baseball star seemed like he'd always had, even in the worst of situations. It made his irritation dwindle and burn out fairly quickly because it didn't hold a sadness to it – like the last smile of his Hayato had seen – and it remind him of the days when they were young. Then again, they were literally _in_ the days when they were young, so maybe that had something to do with it. Maybe ...

"I'm sure their fine. Don't worry about it, alright?" Standing suddenly, Takeshi held his hand out towards the slightly smaller male, still grinning. "Hey. Wanna' get some ice cream?"

A hesitant moment passed and then Hayato was smirking, reaching up to grab the offered hand. "Sure, why not?"

"Cool. And when we're done we can go visit my dad," Even though Takeshi did a good job at hiding it, Hayato still caught the small flicker of sadness that passed over his face and he couldn't help but feel sorry for him all over again.

His only reply was a soft; "Sure." because he didn't know what else to do. But as they say, 'actions speak louder then words' (and while Hayato himself doesn't really believe in such sayings, he's at his wits end about how to handle this subject at this point, so he figures he might as well give it a shot), so when they start to make their way towards the closest ice cream shop, Hayato doesn't let go of his hand, instead squeezing it tightly as they walk. It isn't really that surprising when Takeshi smiles one of his smiles a second time and he's relieved to see it again.

It seemed that, in this time, in the past, everything was ok for them and both were very glad that they had the chance to experience this again in a much different light.

(XxXxX)

FIN

Yay for Hayato and Takeshi ... fluff?? O.o Wow. Never thought I'd write that. I'm actually not that big a fan of this pairing, my heart lies with Hibari X Takeshi, but I was reading the manga this evening and I just got to the part with the whole 'ten years into the future' plot, and the entire time I was wondering what Hayato and Takeshi's older selves were doing in the past. (and, at one point, I imagined Tsuna's dead body just laying around somewhere ... which frightened me slightly.) And this just sort of spawned from that. So, yeah, if it sucks, I'm sorry.

Also, has anyone else been reminded of Captain Planet with this whole ring deal?? Or am I the only one? O.o Seriously, weird rings and weird powers – it's a paradox of some sort! I can see it now, Captain Vongola who, instead of fighting evil, is afraid of it. XD Oh, dear, wouldn't _that_ be interesting?


End file.
